For more information on pursuing trade policy interests through the legislative process, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
Trade Priorities. In a Nov. 9 letter to President Biden, the centrist New Democrat Coalition laid out its suggestions for advancing “a strong and proactive trade agenda,” including the following.
- to “encourage companies to move production out of China and into developing nations,” prioritize legislation to renew or extend the Generalized System of Preferences, the miscellaneous trade bill, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act, and the Haiti Economic Lift Program Act
- pursue free trade agreements with the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Kenya, and perhaps others
- strengthen the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework by including tariff reductions or tariff-based market access and supporting meaningful enforcement provisions for binding commitments
- support negotiations to transition away from imposing tariffs on the U.S.’ closest allies
- establish an exclusion process for existing Section 301 tariffs
- eliminate both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade
- enforce agricultural provisions of existing trade agreements to prevent countries from discriminating against crops made with biotechnology
- improve customs procedures abroad that delay entry of perishable products
- leverage market access agreements to encourage and incentivize trading partners to adopt high labor and environmental standards
- promote trade in environmental products and explore new environmental goods agreement negotiations
China. In a Nov. 7 letter the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party requested that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative consider whether to launch a new Section 301 investigation into the “massive subsidies and long-standing localization and other discriminatory policies” utilized by China with respect to electric vehicles, as well as “what actions should be taken to counter the PRC’s industrial strategy to dominate the global automobile market.” Among other things the committee said the existing 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on imports of Chinese automobiles should “not only be maintained but also increased to stem the expected surge in PRC imports.” However, the committee said the U.S. “must also be prepared to address the coming wave of PRC vehicles that will be exported from other trading partners” that have preferential access to the U.S. market.
Trade Policy. The Open Source Intelligence Availability Act (H.R. 6329, introduced Nov. 9 by Rep. Castro, D-Texas) would require the U.S. intelligence community to develop a plan to make unclassified intelligence products derived from open-source intelligence (such as translations of public documents produced by foreign governments) available to other U.S. federal agencies and entities, including those responsible for trade policy. The bill would also require the intelligence community to streamline procedures to produce and disseminate unclassified intelligence products derived entirely from open-source intelligence and determine which entities and individuals should have access to that information.
Labeling. The Country of Origin Labeling Online Act (H.R. 6299, introduced Nov. 8 by Rep. Gimenez, R-Fla.) would require (1) country of origin labeling to be clearly stated in website descriptions of new products of foreign origin and (2) a clear disclosure of the country in which the seller of the products is located.
Exports. The Strengthening American Nuclear Competitiveness Act (H.R. 6303, introduced Nov. 8 by Rep. Johnson, R-Ohio) would assess and improve the competitiveness of U.S. nuclear commerce and expedite Department of Energy reviews of certain nuclear technology exports.
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